We must do more worldwide to fight terrorism

Posted
Thursday, June 6, 2013 3:47 pm

Alfonse D'Amato

In the past 60 days, two of the world’s greatest western powers were subjected to cruel and appalling attacks at the hands of vile Islamic terrorists. The first attack came on April 15, when the Tsarnaev brothers detonated two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring dozens more.

Then, on May 24, two British men of Nigerian descent viciously attacked a British soldier in broad daylight. According to reports, 25-year-old Afghan War veteran Lee Rigby was walking on a crowded London street when a car struck him. Two men then got out of the car and began stabbing him. According to many witnesses, the two attackers were chanting the words “Allahu akbar,” the Islamic phrase meaning “God is great.”

Rather than fleeing the scene, the two killers stood just feet away from the body for nearly 15 minutes, spouting radical Islamic propaganda until police arrived. When they did, the two attackers charged them with their knives and were shot, wounded and arrested.

Cell phone images show one attacker shouting, “The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day . . . This British soldier is an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth!”

Both incidents were examples of what experts on terrorism call “lone wolf” attacks. Terrorist attacks are shifting to what many are describing as an “open-source jihad” in which every radical Islamic is virtually an army of one capable of successfully committing an act of terrorism.

The U.S. continues to strike at the heart of the terrorist organizations. In places such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, which were once considered the centers of terrorism, Al Qaeda and Taliban forces have been depleted. Drone strikes have taken out leaders and their training facilities, severely weakening the terrorist factions.

This does not mean, however, that we are winning the war against worldwide Islamic terrorism. We have seen the recent rise in lone wolf attacks, and now, in several Middle Eastern countries, power gaps created by overthrown governments are being filled by Islamic fundamentalists.